Thursday, April 21, 2011

Finally an Update!!!

Sorry it's been a bit for an update. Due to my drug induced haze, it's been slow coming. I've tried to keep most update by email or text but here's the story.

Surgery, last Wednesday, went really well. I was very concerned about the anesthesia as in previous surgeries I don't wake up well from it. Oh they have no problem waking me up, it's just usually I wake up crying and or swinging. I can get kinda combative it seems. I let my favorite man in the world that day, the anesthesiologist, :o) know that I seem to do better if they don't put a mask on my face. I fight that mask. So when I did wake this time, I just had the nose cannula's in. Thank you so much! I had a pretty mild wake up. Oh the typical pain/confusion that comes with surgery. It didn't feel as though I was in recovery for very long before heading to my own room but John says it was about an hour.

My surgeon came in to check on me and let us know everything went great. Where they attached the intestine to the pouch, aka my new stomach, he said looked great, went together great and no issues. He felt I would have no problem with this area. So far this appears to be true!

The goal of the nurses is to get you up and walking asap. My goal was to sleep asap. I won't lie, the pain was pretty intense at first. Getting into position in bed hurt, opening my eyes hurt, my stomach was killing me! Since it was laproscopic they blow air into you abdomen to help make more room, that and the gas from the anesthesia has to leave somehow and it ends up trying to leave through your shoulders mostly. If you've never experienced it, it hurts! Also, when they finish cutting, stapling, rerouting and restapling they ahve to make sure your new path has no leaks. They blow air through that as well. And well the only way to get rid of that air is...do I have to say it? Let's just say it took 2 days before I could pass any of that air out and was thanking god when it finally happened.

I had some visitors early in the day and I do appreciate that even if I wasn't the best hostess. My dad and stepmom came to see me. I do remember being in a lot of pain at one point and asking for my dad. John called and said she wants her dad, and my dad being the best dad there is came right away. Yep, I will always be a daddy's girl. John brought Carissa over to see me after school. She knew I was going to have an operation and we knew she would need to see me to know everything was fine. She's my sweet little helper being very careful with my belly and just cuddling with me. Michael we chose not to bring over. He's to young to really comprehend what's going on and I felt like it might scare him to see me hooked up to machines and tubes and in pain. When I was home I showed him my incisions so he would know that mommy had owies and he couldn't climb on me. His response when seeing them? "Dat's Awesome!" Such a boy.

By the afternoon the pain was being controlled better and I was able to start walking a bit. It really did help to get up and around. I spent one night in the hospital and was home by noon on Thursday. Rarely do they keep you more than one day now. I was keeping my water down and looked good so they sent me home.

So here I've been. Every day the pain gets better. I am able to use less and less pain meds. I had some bad days in the first week. As previously posted my first week was nothing but clear liquids and that can take a toll on you. I really have never felt hungry, but occasionally my old stomach, or blind stomach as they now call it decides to growl. It takes awhile before the stomach realizes it's not connected anymore and the brain shuts it off. What I did have was "head hunger". Your head thinks you need to eat, mostly habit driven. Much like quitting smoking, sometimes it's not the actual addiction but the habit that came with it that makes you think you need to eat. Do you know how hard it is to take the top off a pudding cup and NOT lick it?
For this reason John has been great and taking care of all his and the kids meals.

Was it worth it you ask? I'm sure there will be days where I doubt myself, but really....Yes, Yes it was. I am looking at the future and seeing an active future with my family. I look foward to playing with the kids in the backyard and not sitting watching the kids in the back yard. I have so many hopes and dreams for our future. I am off most of my meds, my diabetes is gone at this point. I love it!

Does it work? Well at my week 1 weigh in I was down 15 lb's. That was yesterday, I am down 18lb's today. So yeah it's working. When I have a hard day I step on the scale and see results.

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About Me

I am 38 years old and have a wonderful family and group of friends. My husband and my 2 kids are the loves of my life, I coulndn't make it day to day without them. they are my constant reminder of why I am doing this. I look forward to sharing this journey with you all.